Hosiery.



T. E. BROWN.

HOSIERY.

APPLICATION FILED 1AN.8\ 191.5

Patented Aug. 21, 1917.

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THOMAS E. BROWN, 0F WYNGO'IE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNGR TO THOS. E. BROWN & SONS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A COPARTNEESHIP CONSISTING: 0F THOMAS E. BROWN, ALBERT BROWN, AND THOMAS H. BROWN.

HOSIERY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 211, lhf t.

Application filed January 3, 1915. Serial No. 1,074.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS E. BROWN, of

l/Vyncote, in the county of Montgomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hosiery, whereof the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to the manufacture of hosiery provided with means whereby the top or welt may be engaged by the stud of a supporter as a button hole is engaged by a button.

It has been found impracticable to insert an ordinary button hole in knit fabric such as stockings are ordinarily made of in order to utilize such button hole for support of the stocking. This is because under the strains to which such a button hole is subjected in use, the stitching of the button hole gives way and the knit fabric ravels down. Ef-

forts have been made-to overcome this dificulty by reinforcing the top of a stocking at the point where it is desired to insert button holes, by means of the attachment of a piece or pieces of woven fabric at this point. There are many objections to this. The woven fabric being less elastic than the knit fabric, imposes upon the stitching uniting the two fabrics an undue strain when the stocking is stretched and in the laundry the unequal shrinkage of the two fabrics causes trouble.

I have discovered that by means of a knit reinforcement of the top of the stocking at the point where button holes are to be inserted, I am able to produce a fabric in which such button holes can be inserted and made suficiently strong to withstand all the strains of use to which it is subjected. This I accomplish by feeding through the knitting in the region where the button holes are to be introduced in addition to the cotton of the knit fabric to revel downward there from.

To further strengthen the button hole it is made through both thicknesses of a turned-over welt at the top of the stocking, the button hole stitching finding anchorage simultaneously in both fabrics. By reason of the turning over of the welt, the two thicknesses of fabric have been knit in opposite directions, so that the tendency to ravel in the two thicknesses is in opposite directions. By thus utilizing two such thicknesses, for the formation of a single stitched button hole, I secure the requisite anchorage for the productionof a button hole which has sufficient strength to withstand all the strains of wear.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1, illustrates a stocking having my invention applied to it.

Fig. H, is an enlarged diagrammatic horizontal section along the line 11, 11, of Fig. I.

Fig. Ill, is a similar partial vertical sec tion along the line H1, ill, of Fig. I.

It will be observed that the stocking l, is provided with a turned overwelt 2, of knit fabric. The stocking having been all knit in one direction, the turning over of the welt brings into juxtaposition layers of knit fabric in which the knitting has progressed in opposite directions. The stocking, or at least the upper part of it, is preferably knit of cotton yarn, which is less slippery than silk or inercerized cotton, so that the loops are the better able to hold an interlocked loop notwithstanding the cutting of the yarn adjacent thereto. In this welt it is desirable to provide three parallel vertical rows of button holes. lhere should preferably be two or three button holes in each vertical row, (for the purpose of adjusting the tension of the hose supporter), and the rows should be situated preferably one in front and one at each side of thestocking. Accordingly, as shown, the stocking is provided with three such rows 3, i, and each row comprising three button hole. 6 arranged in line one above the otbr...

In knitting the fabric of which the welt is formed a reinforcing thread, also pref erably of cotton, is thrown into the knitting at regular intervals during, each course, so as to provide strips '4', of-reinforced knitting, in the region of the button holes. The

or less, and long enough to be coextensive with both sides of the turned over welt.

The yarns which are thus knit in combina-- tion in the reinforced portions of the welt, are so chosen in relation to size and weight, having regard to the fineness of the knitting and the tension upon the loops, as that the four threads which necessarily pass through the top of each loop in order to interlock it with the next course, are crowded together within that loop to a sufficient extent to prevent any given loop, even though its top be disengaged, from pulling itself through the loop below.

The button holes 6, are formed by a button hole machine with tie stitching at the upper and lower extremities and each button hole is cut through and stitched over corresponding openings in both thicknesses of the welt as seen in Fig Hi.

It will be seen that the button hole stitching finds its anchorage only in the reinforced knit fabric which, for the reason explained has capacity to afford such anchorage, and also that this stitching passes through both thicknesses of the welt, and as tendency to revel in the two thicknesses of the welt, is in opposite directions the one counteracts the tendency of the other.

l have found that a button hole thus made finds perfectly secure anchorage, and notwithstanding the severe use to which the button hole may be put when buttoned around the stud of a supporter, the button hole stitching does not tear out, nor does the knit fabric ravel down. I believe that this desirable result is secured by reason of the two factors which I have named, namely,

menses the proper choice of the weight and thickness of the yarns used for knitting the reinforced parts in which the button holes are placed, and the simultaneous use of two thicknesses of such fabric forming a turned- ,over welt, as the anchorage'ground for the button hole stitching.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. Hosiery having reinforced regions at intervals around the top thereof, stitched button holes formed in such reinforced regions, said reinforced regions consisting of knit fabric in which there are inserted, a plurality of threads of such thickness and weight that the threads forming the top of each loop are so crowded into the loop with which it is interlocked as to prevent the disengagement of the loops notwithstanding the cutting of the button holes.

2. Hosiery having at the top thereof a welt of knit fabric with knitted reinforced portions, said fabric being knit progres- 'll-IUMAS E. BROWN.

Witnesses:

Janine H. BELL, E. ii. Funnnnrorn 

